Council Ratifies Union Contracts on 8-7 Vote

After more than 4 1/2 hours of public comments and aldermanic debate, the Wauwatosa Common Council narrowly voted to ratify new contracts with three public employees' unions after having voted down those contracts a month ago.

The council vote was 8 to 7, with one member absent.

An overflow crowd had gathered at Wauwatosa City Hall more than an hour before the 6:30 p.m. start time of a special Common Council meeting to reconsider an earlier vote that denied new union contracts negotiated by the city.

The first to arrive showed up at 4:30 p.m., willing to wait two hours to hold seats. The posted room occupancy of Committee Room 1, where the hearing was being held, is 171.

Compared to the meeting last month at which the contracts were voted down, there appeared to be slightly more supporters of the contracts present tonight. Many in the crowd wore "I support fair contracts" stickers.

However, plenty of opponents of the contracts were in evidence, too, many carrying signs saying "Collective Bullying: Stop Union Bullies Now!"

Mayor Jill Didier announced shortly before the meeting was to begin that speakers would be strictly limited to two minutes each and that there should be no booing or applause.

She did not elect to limit the numbers of speakers, but said that she would hear Tosa residents, those who work in Tosa and Tosa business people first, before opening the floor to others.

She also noted that even the overflow area was full.

"I believe this issue was fully vetted on March 15," Didier said as she opened the hearing. "To bring back an issue that was already vetted and voted on is wrong. However, I will uphold the rules and I will preside over this meeting."

Didier also announced that all speakers in favor of ratification would speak first, followed by those opposed.

"I'm here to urge the common council to reconsider their earlier action," said George Stone, one of the early speakers in favor of ratification. "There is no shame in reconsideration. I think it reflects well on our community that we are willing to reconsider."

On the issue of the contracts and collective bargaining, he said, "The Constitution was the result of bargaining. The Bill of Rights was the result of bargaining.

"If we don't pay workers appropriately and fairly, then our economy cannot thrive."

Leaders of the union locals affected by the contracts spoke, saying that they had bargained in good faith and made large sacrifices for the good of the city and its taxpayers, and they urged the council to uphold the new contracts.

Speakers opposed began by saying they were "appalled," "disgusted" "dismayed" and more by the fact that the meeting was even being held.

"Nothing changed in this time frame to require this contract to be changed," said one resident. "There is no new urgency to change them."

Anoter spoke in praise of all the public officials, even the five petition signers, and all public workers who make Wauwatosa a great place to live. But "this second meeting has got me off the bench," he said. "It really makes me want to question what's going on. A revote on this, I don't like it, it smacks of political gamesmanship."

"Thirteen to 3, this group voted," said Bruce Maher. "Now, we've got five who collectively brought this up again.

"I would like to know the agenda for bringing this up again. I am a member of a union, but I think that to not wait for the collective bargaining law is an unwise thing. It's not your money; it's our money." Maher said he was a member of the NFL Players Union.

In the end, more of those opposed to the new vote asked to speak than did those in favor. Many of those who attended the meeting signed statements but didn't speak before the council.

The meeting was brought on by a petition signed by the minimum of five aldermen needed for reconsideration after the Common Council had voted down new contracts on March 15.

At that time, a crowd of about 100 people showed up to protest signing new contracts with three city workers' unions just 10 days before Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill was expected to be published and go into effect. That bill would remove most collective bargaining rights from public unions.

But a number of groups filed suits in Dane County Circuit Court to injoin the bill from becoming law based on complaints of open meetings violations before the State Assembly voted on it. A judge issued a restraining order preventing publication of the bill as law, keeping it from taking effect for several months and possibly longer if the case is appealed to higher courts.

The aldermen who brought forward the petition for new vote said they did so because they learned that extending the existing contracts was costing the city about $20,000 a week compared to the savings that would have been realized by ratifying the new contracts.

Opponents of ratification counter that regardless of the cost now, the city should still wait on the possibility of even greater savings once the budget bill does go into effect.

Aldermen and city staff, however, say that isn't likely to happen in any scenario because the language of the budget repair bill does not in fact affect these unions, since they are not in the state pension plan. They warn that losses to taxpayers without the new contracts in place will be about $500,000 a year just from those three agreements and could top $1 million when other effects of state aid cuts are taken into account.

Aldermen Linda Nikcevich, Jeff Roznowski, Dennis McBride, Craig Wilson, Jason Wilke and Kathleen Causier spoke in favor of the measure as a money-saving matter.

Aldermen Jacqueline Jay, Cheryl Berdan and Michael Walsh spoke against it, and both challenged the procedure of bringing the new vote, but Mayor Jill Didier ruled that the vote was valid. Berdan pointed out that statements about the city “losing money” without the contracts was misleading; the city is still operating under contracts that had been budgeted for and so there was no new cost to taxpayers.

Council President Eric Meaux said he was also looking hard at major savings by ratifying the contracts although he was “torn” by a very difficult issue.

The bombshell of the evening was that Ald. Don Birschel, who had signed the petition to reconsider, changed his mind and his intended vote, saying that private discussions with experts on the budget repair bill had persuaded him that he had misunderstood some of the savings that would accrue to the city under that bill.

The final vote tally was:

Aye – Nikcevich, Causier, Hanson, McBride, Pantuso, Roznowski, Wilke and Wilson.

Nay – Donegan, Meaux, Jay, Walsh, Ewerdt, Birschel and Borden.

Ald. Jill Organ was absent.